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two centuries, the Parnish-Billue house has stood nean the old counthouse squane in
Clinton, Jones County's seat from 1808 to 1905. The rich and colorful histony of the house and
its inhabitants is most cleanly seen in the light of the histony of the town itself and its changing
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- By Carc!Krom The Early Frontier
When the house was built in 1810, Jones
County was in its infancy, having been
created
in
1807 from land between the
Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers acquired from
the Creek Indians. The Jones County of
that day was newly opened frontier territory
on Georgia's far western border, and there
was a rough-and-ready atmosphere in the
new courthouse town of Clinton in its first
years. It was a raw pioneer village of 85
settlers, most of them living in log cabins,
with
a 1og
as
resided there from earlyin the 1800s
shed extension at the rear, and a chimney at
their deaths in 1861. For
each end.
An
elegant finishing touch was a
was trading
of
until
briefperiod,
a
narrow two-story portico with gabled roof
merchant in Clinton, but the chief concern
and a balcony supported by slender columns
of the Parrishes was the management
(removed at some point).
their plantations, his and hers,
The builder of the house is unknown,
but records show that the wealthy Capt.
Jonathon Parrish and his wife Nancy Slatter
Parrish, known as "Madame" Parrish,
as
of
Madame
owned and managed land in her own right.
The house in Clinton served as their town
residence, convenient for participation in
the social, cultural, and business life ofthe
county.
Antebellum Prosperity
Surrounded by the fertile cotton lands
of the Piedmont, Clinton prospered. By
with the Indians who
camped nearby on their pathway known
a
from about 1814 to 1821, Parrish was
courthouse. Drinking, brawling,
and gunfights in the streets were part
life,
and down and no central hall, a two-room
as
Tom'sTrail.
The two-story clapboard house was one
1820, Jones Countywas the second most
populated in Georgia, and Clinton, with
a
population of 84L, was the fourth largest
town of the state. During the next two
with
of the first frame structures in the town.
decades, the streets were packed
It
was a small house built simply in the
more than 50 houses, law and medical
plantation plain style, with two rooms up
offices, a courthouse andjail, trade and
18
SPRING 2015
wwwJonesLivilrg.com
manufacturing establishments, taverns,
was Madame Parrish's brother-in-laq
Professor Slade, a prominent Georgia
boarding houses, churches, and academies.
educator and an early advocate for public
For entertainment, there were theatrical and
schools and the education ofwomen,
Samuel Lowther. Iverson went on to serve
in the state and national legislatures and
musical performances, lectures, traveling
founded Clinton Female Seminary in 1831.
was a U.S. senator at the time of Georgia's
circuses, dances, a bowling alley, and a
Subsequently, he,
with
some of his staff
secession
from the Union. His son,
skating rink.
and pupils, helped to establish Georgia
Confederate Brig. Gen. Alfred IversonJr., is
This vibrant and progressive eady town
holds a place of importance in the history
of Georgia. The achievements of two eady
Clinton citizens, Samuel Griswold and
Female College (nowWesleyan College) in
remembered inJones County for his defeat
Macon. This was the first institution in the
inJuly 1864 of Maj. Gen. George Stoneman
world chartered to grant college degrees to
and his Union Raiders at the Battle
women, and the first degree was conferred
Sunshine Church in Round Oak.
Professor Thomas Bog Slade, are especially
upon one of his students from Clinton,
noteworthy. Griswoldt iron foundry in
Catherine Brewer.
After Iverson moved to Columbus
in 1830, Lowther continued to practice
law in the office until his death h7837.
Clinton was the first in the state, and his
cotton gin manufactory among the first in
the South. He trained a number of men
in his manufactories who went on to form
Clinton
also was home
to
a
number
of
men who went on to become important
of
political and military figures, both
Jonathon Parrish purchased the office and
lot from Lowther's estate, and at some point
nationally and at the state level. One such
connected the law building to the house via
of
industries elsewhere in the South. Before
man with a connection to the history
the Civil War, he established the industrial
the house was Alfred Iverson Sr. Around
least by 1850 and
village of Griswoldville in southwestern
782\,he began practicing law in a small
Madame Parrish, who had
Jones County, later destroyed during
Greek revival building on the lot adjoining
interest in the young people of the town,
Shermant March to the
the Parrishes. His partner in this office
provided boarding for the town's bachelors.
Sea.
a passageway. Census data shows
It
seems
until
that at
1860, the childless
a
maternal
likely that the law office would have
served as a dining room for the boarders.
Madame was an excellent manager
and hostess, and her dining room was
praised throughout the region for its fine
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food and service. The house was richly
furnished, and the tables were set with
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solid silver tableware, gold-banded china,
and imported linens. When court was in
session, the circuitjudges vied for a spot
at the table.
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It
is said that the Marquis de
Lafayette was entertained there on his 1824
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tour of the United States.
Madame gave elaborate parties and
dances where courting took place and
marriages were arranged. One such match
was between her longtime boarder, Richard
Henry Hutchings, and Cornelia Tennessee
Greaves. Richard and his brother Charles
were merchants in the town who procured
their stock of fine goods on twice-yearly
trips to New York City. Richard married
Cornelia in 1.853, and after honeymooning
in NewYork City and Niagara Falls, they
returned to make a home in Clinton.
for Alfned lverson Sr. is now
attached to what was originallyjust a two-story
Following the deaths of the Parrishes in
house.
his young family on the eve of the Civil
The law office built
1861, he purchased the Parrish house for
War.
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Ihe PIot of the Parrish Prcmises
at the time it was the home of Richand Henry Hutchings
Cornelia Greaves Hutchings
The Civil War and
Post-War Decline
Just before the town was formally occupied
plantation land but little money to start
in November 1864, Richard fled with his
anew. Richard Hutchings eventually found
family to avoid the likelihood that he,
During the stressful war years, Richard
was the countyjudge and a member
of
a
as
public official, would be imprisoned.
Upon entering the town, Brig. Gen. Judson
the state secession legislature. When
Kilpatrick commandeered the house for his
raiding parties from Sherman's Army
headquarters, thus ensuring its survival.
passed
through Clinton inJuly 1864, they
I
After Union troops moved on, the
employment in Macon and moved his
family there in 1869. A-number of other
Clinton families did the same.
Clinton had suffered economic and
population losses even before the Civil War
with the establishment of Macon as the
demanded that he release Federal prisoners
Hutchingses returned to a devastated town.
primary commercial and transportation
in the county jail, threatening him with
A third of Clinton had been burned, there
center for the area. But the overwhelming
death if he did not comply. He refused,
had been widespread looting, and much
destruction left behind by Sherman's
and the women of the house joined him to
ofthe food supply had been destroyed.
The family was left with the house and
March to the
push the soldiers out the door ofthe house.
2o I
SPRTNG 2075
Sea ensured
that the earlier
prominence and prosperity of the town
wwwJonesliving.com
would never be recovered. The building
of the railroad in Gray in 1896 and the
relocation ofthe counry seat there in 1905
rvere further losses to the town.
The town became
area
a
quiet residential
with many of the remaining houses
occupied by descendants ofthe original
settlers. In later years, Richard Hutchings'
niece Drucilla lived in the house with her
husband, Samuel Lowther Chiles, and
their four children. According to the late
Valentine Barron Blair, who lived across the
street from the Chileses as a girl in the early
1900s, the house became the social center
of
the town and a favored site for weddings.
Dennis and Lorine Roberts Greene were
the next owners, from1923 into the early
1960s. They raised their two sons, Phillip
ard Zane, there. Geraldine Williams,
a cousin of Lorine's, has lived just down
the street since early childhood. She
remembers the days when the house was
the site for large Greene family gatherings
at the holidays, and also
for prom parties
whenZane was a teenager. The side yard
in those days had
a
small pond for goldfish
The staircase was rcbuilt by Robert Billue, who
ended up becoming a skilled woodworker once
and water lilies and a screened porch across
the front. Another of her memories is
of
the rcmode! was oomplete.
the bonfire that her father, Robert Morgan
Bullington, would have at his nearby store
imagined. The traces of antebellum
Clinton are readily seen in the layout of
inhabitable. But
gather there to roast marshmallows and
shoot offfirecrackers.
its streets and courthouse square, a dozen
with
houses, the tan yard archaeological site, and
construction and interior woodwork and
the Methodist church and cemetery.
floors of heart pine. Added to that was the
around Christmas. The children would
Historic Preservation
The house changed hands several times
after the Greenes'long tenancy, until
itin7974.
40 years ago dovetailed with
Robert's uncle had become aware of the
house because ofthe publicity about the
Shirley and Robert Billue bought
historic preservation movement in Clinton,
Their purchase
and he and the Billues drove out to look
the beginning of a movement to recognize
at
it.
The Billues were at the right stage
a closer
look revealed
the quality and potential ofthe house,
its largely intact early 19th-century
appeal
ofits setting in the quiet pastoral
19th-century village of Clinton.
Shirley says that they bought the
house because they were too young and
inexperienced to know anybetter, and
with old
the historic significance of Clinton and
of their lives to buy a house, since Robert
besides, she was comfortable
take steps to preserve what remains of the
had just completed pharmacy school at
houses, having grown up in and around
early town. That same year, Old Clinton
the University of Georgia and had taken
them.
Historical Society was founded, and
his first job at Chichester's Pharmacy in
tool supply consisting of two screwdrivers,
Clinton's historic district was placed on the
Macon.
they set to work to create a home, room by
National Register of Historic Places. Its
The house was decidedly unpromising
importance lies in its uniqueness as an early
at first glance.
19th-century county seat in
with
a
rustic setting,
a dense
It
was dark and dilapidated,
forest of bamboo stretching
So
with no skills or experience and a
room, for themselves and their daughters,
MaryAnderson (Emma) Billue and Gabriel
Billue Coats. In the process, the family
largely untouched by modern development,
from the side yards to the distant property
developed a deep attachment to the house
where the past is still tangible and easily
line. Only three of the rooms were
and village, and, ofcourse, their skill levels
www.rlonesliving.com
SPRING 2015
27
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and tool chest have grown tremendously
over the 40
only
a
lezr
restoration project.
With
few exceptions, they have done
the work on the house themselves. Some
highlights follow.
Robert rapidly became
a
skilled
woodworker and built up
a
collection of
His expertise is such that he was hired to
Dufour in France in the early 1800s. The
of
do much of the finish work on the c. 1809
panoramic scene, known as The Banks
McCarthy-Pope house in Clinton to restore
the Bosphorus in its English translation,
it to the standards of the National Register
of Historic Places.
depicts the Turkish city of Istanbul. Domed
Shirley has removed countless layers
of
mosques, minarets, and exotic trees form
the skyline, and in the foreground, turbaned
paint and wallpaper in the original rooms
men and veiled women meander the banks
little
antique hand planers and other tools that
of the house to reveal some treasures. Her
of a sparkling river. Though it seems
he has used to repair and replicate damaged
final stripping ofpaint from the beautiful
surprising to find such an exotic scene in
woodwork. A lucky find in one of the
outbuildings were the original 9-over-9,
double-hung window frames with some
ofthe old wavy and bubbled glass panes
still intact. He has replaced the modern
windows in the original rooms of the house
mantelpiece in the formal parlor revealed
early Clinton, it was the height of fashion
ofits original coating ofblue
milk paint. On two doors of the formal
then and must have been much admired in
parlor, she uncovered the early decorative
European, and later American, fascination
stenciling, the blue milk paint of the design
ingrained in the pores of the wood. This is
with and romantic interpretation of the
the only surviving example of 19th-century
This fashion for all things Ti:rkish, known
stenciling in Clinton. Shirley,
as
with
panes
these windows and replaced missing
with
salvaged 19th-century glass.
traces
a
talented
a
the town. The Turkish theme reflects the
culture and art of the Ottoman Empire.
Turquerie, persisted from the 17th
Another find was the original heart pine
craftswoman, went on to stencil historically
staircase railings for the staircase, which he
appropriate borders on some of the walls
has totally rebuilt, turning new balustrades
and the law office floor.
yadby constant mowing of new
to match the few surviving original
they now enjoy almost an acre of lawn and
screened front porch and a chimney and
Another exciting find was fragments of
Madame Parrish's vividly colored scenic
wallpaper in the morning room. This fine
exterior door in the former law office to
woodblocked and hand-painted wallpaper
bricked well, the hearthstone of the original
return the house to its original appearance.
was produced by the company ofJoseph
detached kitchen, two stone watering
ones. He has removed later additions of
a
centuryinto the 19th century.
Robert conquered the bamboo in the back
shade
shoots, and
trees. Underneath the bamboo they
discovered artifacts from the 1800s: the
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26 I SPRING
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troughs, cornerstones of outbuildings, and
floor of19th-century square bricks from
a long-ago building. They have used the
a
bricks to lay walkways.
The old saying that work on a house
never done especially applies
is
to a2}O-year-
Over the years, the Billues have been
very generous in opening their house to
professional and amateur historians, writers,
and the general community. A number
ofarticles about the house have been
old one. The Billues have come a long
way it their rescue and restoration of the
published, and it was part of the Lions Club
Tour of Homes a few years back. If you
venerable old house, but they always have
would like to tour the inside of the house,
it usually is open the second weekend of
checklist of more projects. Perhaps one
day the newest member of the family, the
a
Billues'young grandson
- Kestin Coats,
Gabriel and Marshall's son
- will help
with that list. Het drawn to the house, he
loves to explore it and hear about its history,
and he's growing up
r
with
May
part of Old Clinton War Days.
But at any time, you are rvelcome to take
as
drive or
a
walk through the quiet streets of
Clinton to see this house and other historic
a
structures of Clinton.
ela\z
an understanding
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troughs, cornerstones of outbuildings, and
a
floor of19th-century square bricks from
a
long-ago building. They have used the
ofwhat it takes to preserve it.
Over the years, the Billues have been
very generous in opening their house to
professional and amateur historians, writers,
bricks to lay walkways.
The old saying that work on a house
and the general community. A number
is
never done especially applies to a200-year-
ofarticles about the house have been
old one. The Billues have come a long
published, and it was part of the Lions Club
way in their rescue and restoration ofthe
Tour of Homes
venerable old house, but they always have
would like to tour the inside of the house,
a
fewyears back.
day the newest member of the family, the
it usually is open the second weekend of
May as part of Old Clinton War Days.
Kestin Coats,
But at any time, you are rvelcome to take
a
checklist of more projects. Perhaps one
Billues'young grandson
-
Gabriel and Marshall's son
-
will help
drive or
with that list. Het drawn to the house, he
loves to explore it and hear about its history,
q
a
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see
this house and other historic
structures of Clinton.
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a
walk through the quiet streets of
Clinton to
and he's growing up with an understanding
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